Internet Speed Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Internet Speed Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Most of us have access to broadband and/or fast internet. Years ago, we considered being up to date with having 56k Baud modem. You would click on an internet page, go get your coffee while it connected or if you needed to make a phone call, you had to wait, but life moved along even in those days.

Then came the big upgrade to DSL (digital subscriber line). We could now talk on the phone and surf the internet at the same time. That was a treat to many, including many in my house. We no longer had to hear, “Hey…I need to get on the internet. Get off the phone”.

Soon in time, cable internet became the norm. We were now getting speeds from 15mbps to 30mbps in each home. Fast browsing, playing multiplayer games, and downloading music suddenly became more enjoyable.

Today, many households are over 50mbps in speed. Some are well over 100mbps. And a selected few are living in areas where gigabit services (1000mbps+) are available.

So what does this all mean? What benefits are we getting from all these speeds? Well consider back in the 90s, you just had the computers that needed broadband. Then we added laptops. Then we added tablets. Then came cell phones. Then came electronic devices like TVs, DVD players, Set top boxes, video game consoles, streaming services, and now household devices and appliances. Each one requires its own speed to work properly and to offer users the ability to update firmware automatically. The internet is the gas that makes these devices run.

So where do we go from here? What would it be like in 10-25 years? My guess is, by then, everyone will be on Gigabit services. Files would be gigantic in size. Entertainment companies will have all broadcast, showing movies, shows, and sports all in 8K resolution. Which means the internet pipe has to be very, very large for us to stream these contents. Internet speed, again, will go hand and hand with the latest and greatest devices. One will rely on the other.